According to our best estimates, TED has surpassed a billion video views! Our most recent metrics show that TED Talks are being viewed at a rate of 1.5 million times a day — which means that a new viewing commences 17 times a second. We in the TED office cannot thank you enough for helping us reach this milestone of 1,000,000,000 views — nine wonderful zeroes.

In 2006, when we first posted six TED Talks online as an experiment, internet video was a new form. No one knew if people would take 18 minutes to watch “taped lectures” online, and none of us could possibly have predicted the way in which TED Talks would take off over the next few years. What does this tell us? That people want to learn. That people want be inspired. That people are hungry for ideas, and that there’s a bubbling desire not to let the unfortunate truths of our world remain the status quo, but to look for creative solutions. The fact that you — and your fellow curious minds around the globe — keep coming back for talks day after day is truly astounding. Consider us humbled.

To celebrate our billionth view, today we are launching a brand new section on our site: Playlists. These collections of great talks take the topics you’ve consistently shown the most interest in, and aim to give you a panoramic picture by offering many different slices of the view. When you find a playlist that piques your interest, start watching and feel free come back at any time — if you’re signed in to TED.com (register anytime), we’ll be able to show you exactly where you left off when you return. And yes, these playlists are fully sharable with your friends.

For this section, we also reached out to 24 incredible personalities in the fields of technology, entertainment and design, asking them to create their own playlists. Each of these guest-curated playlists contains the author’s favorite talks — the ones that wowed them, the ones that most inspired them, the ones they want the rest of the world to watch, stat. Every day for the next week, we’ll be unveiling several new guest-curated playlists. Today, enjoy lists from Ben Affleck, Jill Bolte Taylor, Reggie Watts, Bill Gates and Glenn Close. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, Mashableand iTunesare helping us share these playlists far and wide, iTunes offering them as limited-edition downloadable podcasts and Mashable hosting additional lists from tech superstars.

Nearly 10 million viewers have watched Jill Bolte Taylor’s talk, “Stroke of insight.” So which talks most move her? Taylor explains, “I love talks that contribute to the overall well-being of who we are as humanity — that deal with how we can explore ourselves as individuals, as well as people in relationship with one another, and then ultimately, how we relate ourselves to the sustainability of this beautiful planet. And, of course, I always love interesting science told well in story form.” Head to the playlist section to watch her 10 picks >>

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But since you TED fans are our ultimate celebrities, we want to hear about the talks that have stayed stuck in your mind since you first heard them. Has a TED Talk ever changed your life? Have you seen a TED Talk impact a community or individual? Tweet #TEDBillion to share.

And tomorrow, tune back to the TED Blog for playlists created by Isaac Mizrahi, Bobak Ferdowsi of NASA, Bono and Chinese TV personality Wang Lifen.

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Reblogged this on How to Excel and commented:
I’ve written about TED videos before, but this number (1,000,000,000) blows me away. Plus, this post is neat because of the playlists it contains from some pretty influential people.